Poets Bookshop in Bishop Arts and Whose Bookstore inside of Tyler Station — both Latino-owned — are two independent bookstores in Oak Cliff working to bring diverse thought and authors to their neighborhood.
Marcos Cavazos opened Poets Bookshop in Oak Cliff in 2019. Originally, the location was a hat store he owned with his ex-wife. He said it was a “miserable business” — they weren’t interested in the world of fashion.
So, they decided to pivot and turn the location into something they cared about. Their first thought was to make it a poetry studio, using books as a visual element.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of people that write [but] don’t also love books, so it’s a natural partnership,” Cavazos said. “Our thinking was, worst case scenario, we’ll have a lot of good books to read and a place to read them.”
Initially, when the store reopened as Poets, there were tables outside and inside with typewriters and stacks of paper for passersby to use. Cavazos — a poet himself — still writes on a typewriter and has published a poetry book called Some Notes on Love, which is available for purchase online and in-store.
“A lot of them would just leave [their paper], and it was really cool to see what people were writing,” he said. “We had other people that would come and sit down and write for two hours.”
When the pandemic began in early 2020, Cavazos said he pulled the typewriters and tables due to COVID-19. This move transitioned Poets into a more traditional bookstore, rather than the hybrid workplace he has originally pictured.
Now the store, sitting at the corner of North Bishop Avenue and West Davis Street, carries about 1,200 titles. Cavazos said “80% of the bookstore is my ‘to-be-read’ list and 20% is my favorites.”
He also takes feedback and recommendations from the community regarding what books to stock, but his goal when curating the store is to represent as many voices as possible.
“It’s a cross between research and a meticulous selection of trying to represent diversity. Not only in voices but also opinions,” he said. “I’m a big believer in protecting books, so I do bring in from time to time books that are controversial from all sides of the spectrum.”
Now, almost three years into running Poets, Cavazos said he’s thinking about how to bring back the writing element to his store. He is also working on his writing on the side and has three finished manuscripts he’s ready to pitch to publishers.
“The customers that come in, especially the regular customers, they’re intentional about wanting to support indie bookstores and indie publishers, so that leads to a really cool community of local [book] lovers,” he said. “That’s my favorite part, just sharing that passion with people.”
Javier García del Moral, owner of the bookstore and bar Wild Detectives, said the impact of local, independent bookstores is twofold. At the basic level, they’re a local service that provides books. On another level, they are part of the fabric of the neighborhood and help create community.
García del Moral said he opened his bookstore with the intention of sharing new ideas with people.
“You get exposed to different ways of thinking, which is probably the cornerstone of what a bookstore does,” he said. “You challenge yourself, which typically allows [you] to better understand the people around you.”
‘We build community’
After noticing a lack of local, diverse bookstores in Oak Cliff, Claudia and John Vega opened Whose Bookstore in November of 2021.
The Vegas worked as educators in Dallas for more than 20 years and have always loved literature. So, when COVID-19 hit and they found themselves with more spare time at home, they began to brainstorm.
“We were at a crossroads where our children were getting older,” Claudia said. “We felt that we had done what we needed to do.” She said they wanted to continue working with community and education, “but in a different way.”
Claudia grew up in the Oak Cliff area and had to drive more than 30 minutes to buy books. Decades later, as a teacher and a mother, Claudia saw that same lack of local bookstores and said she and her husband had “finally gotten to a point in our life” where they could solve that problem.
The couple wanted their store to serve all age groups and people from all walks of life. Their store now holds more than 3,000 books — a significant portion of which are by authors of color.
“We wanted to make sure that people from the community could come and get children’s books and find people who look like them,” Johnsaid. “One of the best parts of owning a bookstore is meeting people from all walks of life, who have that common thread of literature.”
Claudia described Whose Bookstore as a “third space” where people can talk and connect with each other.
“Our customers have really leaned into that and appreciate that they have the space to do that,” Claudia said. “Yes, we sell books, but that’s not really all we do. ... We build community, we help to kind of share ideas, and that is something that you’re not going to get from an algorithm on Amazon.”
Whose Bookstore also works to teach the local community about the importance of literacy. They hosted a book release celebration featuring a bilingual children’s book, Between Friends/Entre Amigos, last month at their location on South Polk Street.
“Exposing your children to reading at home and building a reading culture at home is imperative to their success,” Claudia said. “When you equip children with the tool of being able to read and the love for reading, everything else follows.”
